Domenici Got Bush Involved in Iglesias Firing

A copyrighted story in Sunday's Albuquerque Journal is getting big play in the media and on the net. Entitled "Domenici Sought Iglesias Ouster," the article's opening paragraph reveals for the first time that Bush was involved in the decision to fire Iglesias, at the direct request of Sen. Domenici:

Former U.S. Attorney David Iglesias was fired after Sen. Pete Domenici, who had been unhappy with Iglesias for some time, made a personal appeal to the White House, the Journal has learned.

The article explains the process this way:

In the spring of 2006, Domenici told Gonzales he wanted Iglesias out. Gonzales refused. He told Domenici he would fire Iglesias only on orders from the president.

At some point after the election last Nov. 6, Domenici called Bush's senior political adviser, Karl Rove, and told him he wanted Iglesias out and asked Rove to take his request directly to the president.

Domenici and Bush subsequently had a telephone conversation about the issue. The conversation between Bush and Domenici occurred sometime after the election but before the firings of Iglesias and six other U.S. attorneys were announced on Dec. 7. [emphasis mine]

Iglesias' name wasn't on an October 2006 list of U.S. Attorneys to be fired. In October, a few weeks before the November 6th election, Domenici phoned Iglesias at home and asked if indictments in the metro court investigation would be issued before the election. Iglesias said no. Iglesias' name suddenly appeared on another version of the list dated November 15, 2006. Domenici had called Rove after the election, then called Bush. Given what Gonzales told Domenici as reported in the Journal story -- that he'd fire Iglesias only on the order of the president -- it's logical to assume that Bush must have given an order to fire Iglesias sometime between November 6th and November 15th, when the list was created.

As Josh Marshall writes at Talking Points Memo:

No one disputes that Domenici's call to Iglesias was at best inappropriate. But there's been a lack of direct evidence that Iglesias's refusal to bow to political pressure led directly to his firing. Now we have that evidence. And it's not Kyle Sampson or even Alberto Gonzales whom Domenici went to to get sign off for Iglesias's ouster. It was right to the president. And the available evidence now points strongly to the conclusion that the final decision to fire David Iglesias came from the President of the United States.

Political motivation for Domenici's calls and Iglesias' firing? You might say.

Marshall also reports on an interesting exchange from today's White House press gaggle. And just think, AG Alberto Gonzales is set to testify under oath to Congress tomorrow.